The invention relates to a sifting liner bags system. More particularly, the invention relates to liner bags which are positioned at the bottom of a cat litter box, and are periodically lifted, whereupon uncontaminated litter is allowed to sift through the bag back into the litter box, while waste remains in the bag for disposal.
Keeping a domesticated cat usually involves maintaining a litter box for the cat to eliminate waste. The litter box is filled with cat litter which has a tendency to clump up when it contacts liquid waste such as cat urine, coats solid waste, and deodorizes the litter box.
After the litter box has been used for a few days, the litter box will contain a mixture of cat waste, clumped litter, and uncontaminated litter. Most cat owners recognize that at this point, it is not necessary to fully dispose of the entire contents of the litter box if the cat waste and clumped (used) litter can be removed.
Accordingly, many have proposed systems which attempt to remove the waste products while avoiding prematurely disposing of unused litter. Such systems generally involve scoops, and trays which give the owner the unpleasant task of manually digging through the litter to search for cat waste products. Generally these systems often result in breaking up the clumps of used litter into smaller pieces which undesirably remain behind with the uncontaminated litter.
Several United States Patents illustrate various attempts to provide a liner which may be lifted to sift the waste products from the litter. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,772 to Lauretta et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,042 to Hammerslag et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,376 to Lundeen et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,392 to Lavash; U.S. Pat. No. 4,308,825 to Stepanian; U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,295 to Harrington; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,832 to Seo, illustrate various attempts. Most typically, these devices fail to disclose a device which could realistically be manufactured, and fit into a litter box. That is, they are either illustrated as a flat sheet which somehow fits within the three-dimensional rectangular prism hollow of the litter box, or they are a bag which is drawn to xe2x80x9cconvenientlyxe2x80x9d fit within the box, without illustrating seams, pleats, or other adaptations which would actually allow the same to take place in the real world. In addition, by providing an open sieve, they require a separate disposal vessel for disposing of the collected waste and used litter.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.
It is an object of the invention to provide a litter sifting bag which lines a litter box and allows waste products and used litter to be collected while leaving uncontaminated litter behind. Accordingly, the bag has a plurality of sifting openings which allow the relatively smaller particles of uncontaminated litter to pass easily therethrough, while collecting the larger clumps of used litter or waste products.
It is another object of the invention to provide a litter sifting bag which is capable of being inexpensively and realistically manufactured, while fitting over the edges of a conventional litter box. Accordingly, the sifting bag is configured with front and rear rectangular panels, connected by a bottom seam and side folds. The front and rear panels have a plurality of substantially uniformly spaced sifting holes.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a litter sifting bag which allows the litter box to be used for an extended period of time without the need to prematurely remove and discard uncontaminated litter. Accordingly, a plurality of bags are fitted onto the litter box in a stacked configuration prior to filling the litter box with cat litter on top of the stack of bags. Periodically, when the litter is partially soiled, a single bag is lifted from its edges, causing all uncontaminated litter to sift through the bag, while retaining used litter and waste products. The uncontaminated litter is thereby aerated in the process. Additional bags in the stack remain at the bottom of the litter box for subsequent sifting.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a litter sifting bag which can itself be used for litter disposal. Accordingly, after all uncontaminated litter has been effectively sifted through the sifting holes, the bag is tilted toward one of the side folds such that waste products and used litter are contained within the non-sifting areas of the bag, and the bag may be bound for safe and hygienic disposal.
The invention is a bag sifting system, for use with a cat litter box in separating waste products and clumped litter from uncontaminated litter, using a plurality of bags which are extended over the litter box before the litter box is filled with litter. As the litter becomes partially soiled, an uppermost of the bags is lifted from the litter box. Each bag has a sifting region having a plurality of sifting holes which allow uncontaminated litter to fall onto the remaining bags in the litter box below. The waste products and clumped litter, being too large to fall through the sifting holes, remains in the bag. The bag has a non-sifting region without holes, such that the bag is then tilted and rotated so that the waste products and clumped litter fall into the non-sifting region, and are contained therein for disposal.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention, limited only by the scope of the claims.